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By Raphael Edem, KSM
… Cont’d from last Monday
In all of these, my motivation was to be able to make a difference in the life of someone I believed had done enough in the music ministry to deserve whatever he got. A few months down the line, the beneficiary of this initiative did something quite shocking, which I would rather not go into here. I took it in my stride. Little did I know that something worse was about to happen.
In the early hours of April 1 last year, Ofon Taxidriver Ntia called me about 1am. Though I was awake, my phone was a bit far from me and I didn’t immediately see the call. When I later did, I tried several times to call him back but couldn’t get to speak to him. I woke up in the morning to calls from my brother, Kufre Umoren, and several other people.
I reached out to some of those that called me and I was told of a most shocking occurrence. Apparently, the gospel minister who was a beneficiary of this house had been invited to minister at the monthly Outpouring Night of Full Life Christian Centre. With a capacity crowd of worshippers in the very large church, and the service being streamed online to a global audience, this man who punctuated his singing with several stories, conjured up a most fallacious tale. Rather than focus on his ministration, which was what he had been invited to do, he went into a long winding story of how he was a beneficiary of my boss’s magnanimity.
This on its own wouldn’t have been a bad thing, despite his blatant lies and manufacturing of non-existing scenarios as to how he got his house. He claimed to have been called on the phone by my boss, who asked him to sing for him over the phone, and thereafter invited him to come to Government House, where a retinue of policemen were waiting to receive him, and the gate was flung open as soon as he announced his arrival. He claimed to have been ushered into my boss’s office by policemen, where he was asked to repeat the song he purportedly sang over the phone, and my boss proceeded to ask him what he wants. According to him, he mentioned that he wanted three things -a set of music equipment, a house and a Coaster bus.
He proceeded to say that his requests were quickly granted and I -Raphael Edem- was directed to ensure he got them. He so wound up the congregation with his testimony, building up excitement as he wove his manufactured version of events. As he spoke about the house, which he described as ‘uncompleted’, the whole church erupted excitedly while he regaled them with his lies. In that excitement, the pastor proceeded to ask him about the two other things he had asked for.
The man responded that I was the one who was given money to do those things but that I only built the house. The inference is that I may have kept back the money for the music equipment and Coaster bus. Of course, the whole church gasped in shock when he mentioned my name. Most of them believed that since he was a gospel minister and speaking from the altar, then his story was true.
When I watched the video, I almost had a heart attack. I have never been so traumatised in my life. I was shocked that a man who was old enough to be my father could stand before a church congregation, streamed to a global audience, and tell such lies, making such false accusations against me in the process. Naturally, some people quickly rushed to abuse me on social media.
Others spoke about it behind me and spread the news all over. Once more, a government official had been ‘busted’! Indeed, it was not only the saddest day of the year for me, it was also one of the saddest days of my life. After I overcame the initial shock, I reached out to several people who knew about this issue and sought their counsel.
My boss’s Senior Special Assistant (Religious Matters), Rev. Daniel Akwatang, had some soothing words for me. My parish priest, Fr. Justin Udomah, gave me some good advice and encouragement. A few other friends reached out, telling me that they knew me well enough to know that such a thing couldn’t have happened. My friend, Kufre Umoren, in particular was very vocal in defending me.
I sought and secured an appointment with Pastor Ntia I. Ntia. While telling him the story, he asked me to stop and called his wife to join in listening to me. He impressed upon me on the need not to take any action or speak to anyone, promising to invite the minister to come and repeat his story in my presence. Apparently, the reverend gentleman has been busy and hasn’t been able to set up this meeting and, really, I hold nothing against him since he’s not the one that asked that man to tell lies against me.
A good number of people had listened to this ‘testimony’, and some have been spreading stories and gossip about me based on this story. I make bold to say though that the stories that man told were lies, all of them. The phone call he referred to in which he said he was asked to sing over the phone never happened. The ‘visit’ to Government House never happened.
The ‘three requests’ he claimed to have made and which he said were granted never happened. The story of how he got the house is as I had earlier narrated. I will wait for him or anybody else to prove me wrong. I was asked to build him a house, and money was given to me for that purpose.
I built it and handed it over to him. I was not asked or given any money to buy him a Coaster bus or any vehicle for that matter. I also wasn’t given money to buy him any instrument or equipment. He is the only person who can explain why he would manufacture such lies against me.
I am not one to bring this kind of gist to the public space or to even join issues with people. I have had some people tell me to forget about it and leave him to his creator and his conscience. I appreciate that advice and that is what I would ordinarily do. However, some others have told me to state my version of events so as to clear my name and not have this false narrative used against my children or me in future.
I am persuaded to believe that this is a better course of action under the circumstances, as the world never forgets. I know there are people who watched the livestream or were at that service who may never get to see this version of things. They may have formed their opinion based on that false narrative. Yet, I believe firmly that my intention and my innocence in this false accusation will vindicate me.
I am not doing this to get back at anybody, not even the man in question. I have refused to mention his name all through this piece. I am doing this for the records, for the sake of my reputation and for the sake of my children, who should not be falsely labelled at any point over something their father didn’t do. I hope that those who asked me to let this slide would understand my reasons.
In closing, I will, please, request that nobody should insult the man in question, as he is much older than me and that is definitely not the intent of this post. I have decided to let go of that pain and hurt and give myself closure with this post. I will finally be able to move on from what was certainly the worst day of 2022 for me. Here is wishing everyone a happy New Year!
(Concluded)
•Mr. Raphael Edem, KSM is Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State
